Chapter 1: What happens when ambition stops serving your purpose?
What happens when ambition stops serving your purpose and starts draining your peace? And today on Mic Unplugged, I sit down with my really good friend, Amena Altai, an executive coach, author of The Ambition Trap, and one of the leading voices on purpose-first leadership. We impact the mindset shift that you need to go from painful ambition to purposeful ambition.
We talk about the toll of success that doesn't serve you. And at the end, in our quick five, we talk about her favorite brand of peanut butter. It might surprise you. Ladies and gentlemen, I present my good friend, Ms. Amina Alta.
You're listening to Mick Unplugged, hosted by the one and only Mick Hunt. This is where purpose meets power and stories spark transformation. Mick takes you beyond the motivation and into meaning, helping you discover your because and becoming unstoppable. I'm Rudy Rush, and trust me, you're in the right place. Let's get unplugged.
Mina, how are you doing today, dear?
Oh, my gosh. Thank you so much for having me. I need to bring you everywhere with me.
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Chapter 2: How can we differentiate between painful and purposeful ambition?
That was just the ultimate hype train. That was incredible.
No, no, no. It's all true.
Chapter 3: What does Amina mean by the toll of success?
It's all who you are. I mean, I've been a really big fan of yours. One of my favorite authors of all time. And we're going to talk about the books in a little bit. But I love starting the episode off by asking my guest, what's there because? That thing that's deeper than your why that really keeps you going. So if I were to say today, Amina, what's your because?
Yeah, I love that you asked that question because it's so beautiful. But my because is I have this belief that those of us that are called to purpose-driven work are actually driving toward our version of Dr. King's beloved community.
And so my because is I want to create my version of Dr. King's beloved community where we center justice, peace, and equity, and everybody gets to live into the fullness of their experience. Because imagine what kind of world we'd live in if we all had that.
I love it. And I mean, I was so excited to get to ask you that question, right? Because a lot of my guests, a lot of my friends, a lot of my family, you know, are because centers around like our children or, you know, some of the things that we do, sometimes even our pets. But Amina, you're you're not the cat lady. You're the you're the plant lady.
Talk to us about your love of plants and all the really cool things that you do with your children.
Oh my gosh. Well, I have to tell you kind of like a sad story. So oftentimes people will see this plant in the background of my recordings. His name is Herm. I've had him for nine years. He was a giant Monstera. And when I first got him, I carried him home on the subway. That's how small he was. You know, carry him in your arms. And then he grew to like seven feet tall.
But over the course of the last year, he wasn't doing so well. So I thought, okay, let me replant him. He'd gotten so big. I thought maybe he needs a bigger container. And I replanted him. Well, I actually hired someone to replant him because he was too big for me to do it. And then after the person replants him, they're like, oh, I've never worked with this plant before. I hope it doesn't die.
And I was like, what, what now? So fast forward, basically Herm doesn't do so well in the transplant, but now I'm propagating him. So I took nine cuttings and I'm actually propagating it into a new plant that I will put back together. But I do love my plant children and I just had a very, really hard experience, but I thought it was a metaphor.
I was like, Herm outgrew the pot and he got too big and he needed new roots. And I feel like that's such an important metaphor for all of us. There are times in our lives where we need new roots. So it feels like a burning down, but it's actually a rebuilding. So that's the metaphor I'm running with this.
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Chapter 4: How does Amina define the Zone of Genius?
And that's a big one. and that we're cultivating a sense of contentment. And so when we've checked the box on all five of those things, we're usually flowing.
Wow. That's why I'm glad I'm talking to you now. Again, like all the things that I had questions or that I would highlight in the book, like you're coming back and talking through them. Again, being a big fan of yours, I heard or saw an interview where you were talking about that zone of genius and how you'll work with people That are rock stars, superstars, athletes.
And they're like, yeah, but I don't think I really have that genius zone. I just work hard. Right. I'm going to work everybody. And then this thing happens. But talk to us about just that phenomenon a little bit that you're able to untap into people to help them understand. Now, everybody has some type of genius and you help us get that out.
I love when people ask me questions around the zone of genius because it is work that makes me so happy to talk about. So the zone of genius is a term that was coined by Gay Hendricks, who wrote the book, The Big Leap. I highly recommend it. It's one of my favorites. And so I built upon this concept and I believe that all of us have a zone of genius.
And I think a lot of us operate in spaces and work in organizations where we're usually in service to one person's genius, but that creates a lot of toxic dynamics. So in reality, everybody has a zone that they are off the charts brilliant at. where we don't have to push force or effort. It's just innate. Our gifts kind of flow in that space.
And I always use the example of a child who's a musical virtuoso because they come to the planet with that gift kind of, right? But they have to keep honing it and getting better at it to really like live into the genius. And that's available for all of us. But I cannot tell you I think it must happen in virtually every coaching session.
I cannot tell you how many people I've sat across from and they are just incredible humans. And they will look at me and say, I do not have a zone of genius. And I'm literally like looking at the gold medals in the background or like I see the 360 reviews that they get inside of their organization. And it's so clear to me.
But, you know, the way that we've come to understand genius, I think it's part of the problem, right? We think that it's only high IQ scores. We think that it's only STEM, right? Yeah. And when I was researching for the book, I traced the lineage of the word genius all the way back to ancient Rome. And it was often a hero and rarely a heroine.
And there was a study that was done by 92nd Street Y, and they found that girls as young as six think that genius is a male trait. And so, so many of us have to reclaim that word for us because we have these perceptions and ideas of what it looks like. But what I love about each of us having a zone of genius is that it democratizes it, right? Then there's no above or below.
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Chapter 5: What are the five core wounds that drive painful ambition?
They have their very own glass cliff experiences where maybe they make it through the glass ceiling, but then they get pushed off the proverbial cliff and they experience a lot of bias. And it just requires a very particular lens and level of care to support those folks, right? Because they are navigating systems that weren't designed for them to thrive.
And I think it's important that we have honest conversations about that. And, you know, I think that we are making some headway. Right. I don't I don't think fast enough. We're making some headway, though. And so it does give me hope. But we need more people that look like you, that look like me in these spaces. Right. That are making decisions for the global majority.
And so I just feel really impassioned about it. And, you know, as a woman of color who has invisible disability. Right. Who's had my own experiences like this. I just want things to feel different for folks because it's. We spend more of our heartbeats at work than we do anywhere else. It should feel really good. And it just feels so broken for so many people.
Again, can't thank you enough. Can't show you enough appreciation and adoration for just who you are. So thank you, Amina.
Oh my gosh. Thank you. And thank you for all of the amazing work that you do in the world. I think that you are killing it. I look up to you so much and just so grateful that you would share your platform with me.
Stop all that. It's all good. It's all good. So I'm going to get you out of here on what I call my quick five. So five rapid fire questions for me to get to know Amina a little bit. Ready? All right. Your favorite comfort food is.
Oh, I just had peanut butter. So that's top of mind.
Oh, all right. So this is going to be a real deal breaking question right here. What's your favorite brand of peanut butter then?
Oh, I always get the Whole Foods organic one.
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